ON ST. ANSUERUS, MARTYR, AND HIS COMPANIONS,
AT RATZEBURG IN LOWER SAXONY.
IN THE YEAR 1066.
PRELIMINARY COMMENTARY.
Ansuerus, martyr, at Ratzeburg in Lower Saxony (S.)
His Companions, at Ratzeburg in Lower Saxony. BHL Number: 0558
BY THE AUTHOR G. C.
§ I. The arena and epoch of the martyrdom.
Ratzeburg, commonly Ratzburg, which by Helmold, book 1, chapter 2, is called the city of the Polabi, and by others Racipolis, Razispurg, and by similar names, an ancient city of Germany in the circle of Lower Saxony, St. Ansuerus with his companions at Ratzeburg, between the Duchy of Mecklenburg to the east and that of Lauenburg to the west, is situated near the lake of the same name, and was episcopal under the archbishop of Bremen, who is also sometimes called of Hamburg, after, namely, by the approval of Nicholas I the Roman Pontiff, the see of Hamburg was united to Bremen; concerning which union it was treated at length in the Life of St. Anscharius, archbishop of Hamburg, on the III day of February in the preliminary Commentary, §2. But Ratzeburg is distant seven miles from Hamburg and as many from Lüneburg, but three or four from Lübeck. He who desires to know more concerning its situation and various fortune, let him consult Matthäus Merian in the German Topography of Lower Saxony, page 197. In this city of Ratzeburg, or at least not far from it, that St. Ansuerus and other Christians were crowned with the laurel of martyrdom by the Slavs, relapsed to paganism, testify almost all the historians of that region. Before others Master Adam, canon of the church of Bremen, who lived at the same time, thus writes in his Ecclesiastical History, book 4, chapter 11: Ansuerus also, a monk, and with him others, were stoned at Razispurg. Their passion occurs on the Ides of July. Who, when he came to his passion, is reported to have demanded of the pagans that his companions, whom he feared might fail, should first be stoned. Whom being crowned, he himself, rejoicing, with Stephen set his knees.
[2] Not in vain in the preceding number did I say that St. Ansuerus and his companions were crowned with the laurel of martyrdom in the city of Ratzeburg, or at least not far from it. Occasion for making this disjunction was afforded by the text of Adam of Bremen, who affirms that they were stoned at Razispurg. or was martyred near that city. The same expression imitate Helmold, priest of Bosau near Lübeck, in the Chronicle of the Slavs, book 1, chapter 22, the anonymous Saxon Chronographer, whose chronology reaches to the year 1188, and whom therefore Leibniz thinks to have lived about these times, who first at Leipzig in the year 1698 gave this writer to the public light; Albert of Stade in his Chronicle at the year 1066, and others, who transcribed the words of Adam. But yet I am not ignorant that by the ancient writers the preposition "apud" is often used for "in." Examples of this matter are everywhere at hand in the Martyrologists. It may suffice to have given one here. Usuard on the XXIV day of January thus has it: At apud Antioch, the birthday of St. Babylas the bishop, who in the persecution of Decius, after he had frequently glorified the Lord by his sufferings and torments, obtained the end of a glorious life in chains. Yet his Acts and certain ancient Martyrologies, and among others the Hieronymian, testify that he suffered in Antioch. The Little Roman thus has it: At Antioch, of St. Babylas the bishop. The same happens in our case: For what by Adam, Helmold, and others is said to have been done at apud Razispurg, by others is reported to have been done in [in] Racisburg: for the Chronicle of Riddagshausen, edited by Leibniz among the writers of the Affairs of Brunswick, volume 2, page 76, thus briefly enunciates it: St. Answerus is stoned in Ratzeburg. But the Slavic Chronicle of an uncertain author, printed after the Ecclesiastical History of Adam of Bremen, thus comprehends the same martyrdom in few words, chapter 14: Ansuerus the monk, with his companions, was stoned in Racisburg on the Ides of July. From what has been said I should easily believe that St. Ansuerus and his companions were afflicted with martyrdom in the very city of Ratzeburg. Let these things concerning the arena of the sacred combat suffice; now let us proceed to a more intricate question.
[3] His martyrdom Baronius, In fixing the epoch of this martyrdom the more recent authors so disagree among themselves, that here truly the common proverb has place, so many heads, so many opinions. The most eminent Cardinal Baronius in the Ecclesiastical Annals judges that the Slavic persecution and the slaying of St. Ansuerus are altogether to be placed in the year of Christ 1065, in these words: In this same year, which is also numbered the twenty-second of Adalbert, archbishop of Hamburg, the church of the Slavs, established under his parish, is ruined, many being crowned with martyrdom in that disaster, but in the first place prince Godescalc, a most zealous champion of the Christian religion. But this so great glory of that church, that it may be left firmly attested: in the first place, as regards the time, Adam, who was present, has this: The expulsion of the archbishop and the death of Godescalc happened in almost one year, which is the twenty-second of the Hamburg pontiff Adalbert. Plainly in this year, since he himself was created archbishop of Hamburg in the year of Christ one thousand forty-three. The things then done by the same author are briefly thus narrated, or rather touched upon. Here, the slaying of Godescalc, prince of the Slavs, being narrated from Master Adam, of whom we treated on the VII day of June, Baronius thus proceeds from the same writer: Ansuerus the monk, and with him others, were stoned at Rinsburg. Their passion occurs on the Ides of July. I warn in passing that by the city of Rinsburg here placed by Baronius, Ratzeburg ought to be understood, lest otherwise it be perhaps confounded with Rendsburg, a town of Holstein, which is situated on the border of the Duchy of Schleswig on the river Eider.
[4] This chronology of Baronius pleases Mabillon, who in the Acts of the Saints of the Order of St. Benedict, century 6, part 2, and Mabillon place it in the year 1065; page 156, thus endeavors to establish the same: The martyrdom of Ansuerus, he says, together with that general disaster of the province of Hamburg, Albert of Stade in the praised chronicle, and Helmold, book 1 of the Chronicle of the Slavs, chapter 24, set down in the year 1066, which, however, Krantz, book 4, chapter last, recalls to the year 1060. But those authors combine the year of the martyrdom of these Saints with the eighth year of King Henry and the twenty-second of Adalbert, archbishop of Hamburg. Wherefore, since it is established that Henry received the kingdom toward the end of the year 1056, I should rather believe that Ansuerus was afflicted with martyrdom in the year 1065. And indeed this is expressly had in our Saxon Chronicle, written by an ancient hand; in which this Slavic disaster is narrated in the year 1065, where also the author of the persecution is said to have been Blusso, who had the sister of Godescalc; whom Albert of Stade calls Plusso. I observe here also in passing that Krantz is not very consistent with himself, when in the Metropolis, book 4, chapter 44, he binds that sedition of the Slavs to the year of Christ 1060, who in his Wandalia, book 3, chapter 5, places the same in the year of Christ 1066.
[5] To the opinion of Baronius and Mabillon Antoine Pagi contradicts, but Pagi in the year 1064; who in the Historico-Chronological Critique at the year 1065 thus notes: From number L to LIII, the persecution stirred up against the Christians in Saxony, which Baronius narrates in this year, pertains to the year one thousand sixty-four, as is clear from Adam of Bremen, book 4. Helmold in the Chronicle of the Slavs, book 1, chapter 24, and Krantz in the Wandalia, book 3, chapter 5, who is wont to transcribe Adam, wrongly couple it with the following year, whereas Adam asserts that it happened in the twenty-second year of Adalbert, archbishop of Bremen, but they narrate it accurately. Then again from the twenty-second year of Adalbert the Archbishop (Baronius and Mabillon, as we saw above, to establish their chronology, use the same argument) he contends to overthrow the opinion of Baronius. Finally he convicts of error Helmold and Krantz, who join this history with the eighth year of Henry IV: For in the following year, he says, Henry IV began the eleventh year of his reign. Wherefore this persecution happened in the year 1064, in which the eighth year of Henry ended, and began the twenty-second year of Albert the archbishop, even in the opinion of Helmold and Krantz, who rightly join the beginning of Albert with the year 1043.
[6] Several chronologers hold that these Slavic tumults happened in the year 1066. But we, with others, think it happened in the year 1066. For that year plainly stands
Helmold, who in book 1 of the Chronicle of the Slavs, chapter 24, thus expressly pronounces: But this disturbance happened in the province of the Slavs in the year one thousand sixty-six after the Incarnation of the Lord, in the VIII year of the reign of Henry IV. Albert of Stade, who flourished in the year 1256, in his Chronicle at the year 1066, after narrating the martyrdom of Godescalc and Ansuerus and other tumults, thus concludes: Therefore the expulsion of the archbishop and the death of Godescalc happened in the eighth year of King Henry, the XXII of the Archbishop, in the present year of the Lord. Baronius and Mabillon indeed desert these authors; nay, Pagi roundly declares that Helmold erred. I should prefer, as long as a manifest reason does not from elsewhere press, to reconcile with myself those writers venerable for their sincerity and antiquity, and to set down this Slavic barbarity against the Christians in the year of Christ 1066. Nay, I contend that Adam of Bremen, who, on account of the nearness of place and time, could have had the events clearly seen, favors my opinion. But as regards the Saxon Chronicle of Mabillon, written by an ancient hand, in which this Slavic madness is expressly narrated in the year 1065; to it I oppose the Chronicle of Lübeck, which Meibom edited in volume 2 of the Affairs of Germany, where, page 394, these things are had: Under this Ezo also the Slavs, a conspiracy being made, again relapsed from the faith, stoned and slew priests and Christians in the year of the Lord 1066. I add also the Saxon Chronographer, first printed, as I said above, by Leibniz, who sets the slaying of Godescalc and Ansuerus in the year of the Lord 1067, the XI of Henry IV. Although that author does not hold our opinion, yet he differs more from the opinion of Baronius, Mabillon, and Pagi than from ours. Now let us lay the foundations of our opinion.
[7] The foundations of our opinion are laid, Master Adam, whom the adversaries, although disagreeing among themselves, cite on both sides as the patron of their opinion, after he had, in book 4 of the Ecclesiastical History, chapter 7 and following, narrated the tumults stirred against his Archbishop, and the death inflicted on Godescalc and Ansuerus by the raging Slavs, thus concludes, chapter 23: Therefore the expulsion of the Archbishop and the death of Godescalc happened in almost one year, which is the XXII of the pontiff. This is the third denial of the Slavs, who first were made Christians by Charles, secondly by Otto, thirdly now by prince Godescalc, and, unless I am mistaken, these evils about to come upon us that horrible comet signified, which appeared in that very year about the days of Easter. Lambert of Hersfeld, a writer also contemporary, in his Annals at the year of Christ 1066, narrates the following: The morning being come, all rose up against the archbishop (namely Adalbert, of whom he treats) with minds so hostile, that they would not have refrained even their hands, if the royal majesty had not scarcely and with difficulty restrained their wrath. Contumeliously, therefore, he was cast out of the royal court with all the fautors of his tyranny. Then, certain things being interposed, in the same year 1066 he thus proceeds: At the Paschal feasts, for almost fourteen continuous nights, a comet appeared. These things being premised as a foundation, let us solve the objections of the adversaries.
[8] and the objections of the adversaries Baronius in the place cited above relates from Adam of Bremen that that Slavic sedition happened in the XXII year of Adalbert the archbishop. Then he says that Adalbert or Albert (by whichever name he is called) was created archbishop in the year of Christ 1043; and hence he infers that that Slavic persecution is to be placed in the year of the Lord 1065, since that year of Christ coincided with the twenty-second year of Adalbert the archbishop. It is indeed established from Adam of Bremen that the predecessor of Adalbert died in the year 1043 about the XVII of the Kalends of May, in the XI Indiction. But I desire to learn whence it is established that Adalbert succeeded him in the same year, or at least from that time began to number the years of his archiepiscopate. To saying this the diploma of Adalbert himself concerning the foundation of the monastery of Goseck moves me, which I find printed among the Privileges of the Archchurch of Hamburg after the Ecclesiastical History of Adam, where at the end these things are read: Given on the III of the Kalends of October in the year of the Incarnation of the Lord 1053, in the III Indiction, in the VIII year of the episcopate of the Lord Albert the archbishop. Done at Goseck in the name of Christ happily. Amen. The computation being made, it would follow that Adalbert numbered the years of his archiepiscopal dignity only from the year of Christ 1045, in which year also Lambert of Hersfeld writes that he succeeded Altbrando.
[9] I confess that in other diplomas of the same prelate the years are otherwise numbered, from the years of Adalbert the archbishop, as is clear from the diploma of the foundation of the monastery of Rastede, where at the end it is thus read: Given in the year of the Lord's Incarnation 1059, in the XII Indiction, on the III of the Ides of September. But of the ordination of the same most reverend archbishop Adalbert the XVI. Here his ordination is indicated as made in the year 1043. On account of this varying manner of reckoning occurring in these diplomas, I suspect that the years of this archprelate were variously numbered by the writers, as happens in the years of Henry IV, as we shall presently see. Perhaps some began to compute them from his nomination, others from his confirmation or consecration, or some like circumstance hitherto unknown to us. But these being set aside, what forbids that the 22 years of Adalbert be taken as completed, which from the year 1043 to the year 1066 altogether elapsed, the two extreme parts of the years not being computed?
[10] Almost the same is to be observed in reconciling the Slavic persecution against the Christians with the eighth year of Henry IV. and from the years of King Henry IV, are dissolved. For it is known to those even a little skilled in German history that those years of Henry IV are numbered in diverse ways. Some begin them from the year 1054, when, according to the testimony of Lambert of Hersfeld, he was consecrated king at Aachen by Herimann, archbishop of Cologne. Others from the year 1056, when, according to the same Lambert, his son Henry, a little infant of five years, obtained the kingdom in place of his father, in the third year after he had been anointed king. But since at that time his mother administered the kingdom in place of her son, several chronologers begin to number the reign of Henry IV from the following year 1057. Certainly the Saxon Chronographer, several times praised, sets this title: The year of the Lord 1057, the I of Henry IV. Then thus he writes below: Henry IV, son of the Emperor Henry, being still quite a boy, succeeding his father, began to reign. Albert of Stade in his Chronicle thus expressly speaks: In the year of the Lord 1057 Henry IV, son of the Emperor Henry, the LXXXVII from Augustus, began to reign, and reigned XLII years. The Annals of Hildesheim, edited by Leibniz among the writers of the Affairs of Brunswick, volume 1, thus have it, page 731: In the year of the Lord 1057, in the IX Indiction, Henry, son of the Emperor Henry, being still quite a boy, began to reign. If we follow this last epoch, and the years be taken as completed in the manner said above, it is clear that from the year 1057 to 1066, eight complete years passed, and thus this Slavic tumult could have happened in the completed eighth year of Henry IV. From what has been said it is at least clear that these years, according to the varying manner of reckoning, are very uncertain, and that, on account of the difference of one or another year, Helmold, Albert of Stade, and other old writers assigning a certain year are not straightway to be convicted of error. I know indeed that in certain diplomas other years are fixed; but since into their Indictions (perhaps also into the numbers) errors have crept, I make no great account of the testimonies of such diplomas, even those favoring my opinion. These, therefore, being left in the midst, I object one argument alone, to which I desire to be satisfied by the adversaries.
[11] All the historians and chronologers hitherto cited by me agree that in the year 1066 after the Lord's Incarnation, about the Paschal feasts, a comet appeared. One argument is proposed for the adversaries to solve. This the adversaries themselves do not deny: for Baronius in the Ecclesiastical Annals thus begins this year: The thousand sixty-sixth year of Christ follows, in the fourth Indiction, and the same is marked by the Latin chronographers, as well as by the Greek historians, by a notable comet. But Pagi, at the same year 1066, the words of Sigonio being cited, who describes this comet, endeavors to convict that historian of error by this celestial sign: From which words, he says, it is drawn out that this war pertains to the present, and not to the preceding year, as Sigonio wrongly, book 9 of the History of the Kings of Italy: for of this comet various writers made mention, and wrote that it appeared in this year. Let it be permitted me to retort the same argument against Pagi and Baronius: for Adam of Bremen, after the Slavic devastation, the slaying of the Martyrs, and the other tumults set forth in a faithful narration, book 4, chapter 13, thus concludes: Unless I am mistaken, these evils about to come upon us that horrible comet signified, which appeared in that very year about the days of Easter. I could here adduce other things making not a little for the confirmation of this argument, which in the Ecclesiastical History of Adam immediately follow concerning the death of the holy king Edward and the tumults stirred up after it in England, which, the adversaries themselves confessing, happened in the year of Christ 1066. But these I judge to suffice for establishing our opinion, which contends that St. Ansuerus and his companions more probably obtained the palm of martyrdom in the year 1066.
§ II. A compendium of the Acts, from which the Saint's country, profession of life, companions, and relics are examined.
Johann Adolf Cypræus, of Schleswig by home, in the year 1634 published at Cologne the Annals of the Bishops of Schleswig, A compendium of the Acts, in which the country of St. Ansuerus, into which among other things he inserted a sufficiently elegant eulogy of St. Ansuerus. In this compendium of the Acts he narrates certain things unknown to the ancient writers, which, after exhibiting that eulogy here first, we shall discuss one by one. And so in book 1 of the said Annals, chapter 19, he thus writes: Answerus, born of noble stock, of his father Oswald, a strenuous knight, and his mother Agnes, and indeed at Schleswig in that house which offers itself on the left to those entering the street (commonly called the Dog street), which now, when I transmit these things to posterity, Bernhard Soltow, the ducal treasurer of Gottorp, possesses, as by constant report it has been brought to us; at fifteen years of age, the future heir of his father's goods, his parents unwilling and crying out against it, gave himself wholly to the studies of sacred letters; which studies nevertheless, at the beginning of the nascent Church in these shores, lay almost neglected and contemned, even though Schleswig was a most opulent and populous city of the Transalbine Saxons, as Helmold and others name it.
[13] his profession of life, And so, his country and parents being left, having set out to Ratzeburg, and that at the exhortation of Rudolf, bishop of Schleswig, he entered the monastery of St. George; where at that time, among the pagan idolaters, monks of the Benedictine Order lived. Where, when he had spent a good while, the foundations of Christian doctrine being received, he asked to be admitted to the profession of religion. Which when he had obtained, the religious habit being assumed, he made such progress in the studies of letters that among the learned men he obtained the chief place, and in holiness and example of life went before all. Initiated in the sacred orders and promoted to the priesthood, wholly given to the contemplation of divine things, insisting on ardent prayers, he offered his heart and body in fervent devotion as a sacrifice to God, and sacrificed with tears. And when the abbot or rector of the monastery had been taken from among the living, he himself, by all the suffrages of his colleagues, and the unanimous vote and desire of all, was created and designated abbot, obtaining the name and office of a good pastor.
In which office he so bore himself, that he found great praise with all, as one who instructed and ruled the flock committed to him not only by word, but also by example. But his colleagues, when they offended and sinned, he so corrected that he neither utterly ruined them by rigor and harshness, nor, indulging their errors by too great facility, connived at them.
[14] But he also published and taught the word of God in Slavia, which was not yet converted to Christ, and his martyrdom are described. together with his colleagues and brethren, who are recorded to have been twenty-eight, and converted very many to religion. For which cause, brought into the hatred of the chief Slavs, who abhorred the Christian religion, together with his colleagues he lived some time in the greatest peril, until the Slavs, who would not have the inveterate worship of demons abolished, an assault being made upon the monastery, stoned Answerus together with his colleagues, apprehended, on a mountain situated not far from the monastery, at Rinsberg. Answerus, fearing lest his colleagues, broken and terrified by the terror of the punishment, their religion being denied, should again fall away, contended by prayers with those who were to stone them, when he was led to punishment, that before he himself should be overwhelmed with stones, punishment should be taken of his colleagues, so that by the fortitude and constancy of the Christian martyrs those thinking ill of religion might be suffused with shame and ignominy, and that his colleagues, with sure faith and undoubted hope, might not fail of the crown of glory shortly to be obtained, nor by their pusillanimity increase the distrust of the Slavs, and give religion to be derided. Whom being slain, he himself, fallen upon his knees, after the example of Stephen, commended and delivered his soul to God with great cheerfulness. And thus … on the Ides of July they won for themselves the honors of martyrdom. On which day also our Elders celebrated their memory. The arm of Answerus is said still to exist and to be preserved at Stade in the church of blessed Mary. That at his sepulchre the blind received sight and other miracles were wrought by the virtue and clemency of our Savior, antiquity has handed down to memory; which we, as we received it by constant report and undoubted faith from our elders and forefathers, so transmit it to posterity with faith and truth. Thus far Cypræus, some of whose assertions, destitute of the testimony of the ancient authors, we shall now examine.
[15] First indeed Cypræus assigns us the country of St. Ansuerus, nay, the very house of his birth, as he asserts was brought to him by constant report. Whatever be the case with this report or tradition, It is inquired whether St. Ansuerus was of Schleswig, in the ancient historians I find no trace of this assertion. The church of Schleswig indeed in the sacred Office celebrates St. Ansuerus as her countryman in these words: Blessed Ansuerus, born of a noble stock, namely of his father Oswald, a strenuous soldier, and his mother Agnes, was a native of the city of Schleswig. But in the Breviary of Ratzeburg, which describes the Passion of St. Ansuerus, concerning his country there is plainly silence. But in our fuller Acts only the following are related: Ansuerus, born of noble parents, drew a festive genealogy, as being of a noble father, the strenuous soldier Oswald, and a mother by name Agnes, who were of the best disposition, of praiseworthy repute and good fame, and led a most honorable life. The same Oswald, dwelling between Heidebo, a city of Jutland, which is now called Schleswig, and Holstein, was endowed with so great excellence that he enfeoffed very many soldiers and military squires with his possessions after the manner of vassals. Yet I do not on that account wish to snatch this honor of their country from the people of Schleswig; but I should prefer that the inhabitants of that city, infected with the Lutheran heresy, after the example of their Elders, should venerate St. Ansuerus as their countryman, and hold the faith and imitate the manners of the holy Monk, which name they now so greatly despise.
[16] and a monk of the order of St. Benedict. It is sufficiently established from the contemporary Adam and other ancient writers that St. Ansuerus was a monk. But perhaps someone will doubt whether he was of the Order of St. Benedict, as the Acts, the Breviaries, Cypræus praised above, and other more recent writers assert. A doubt might arise from this, that the old authors, treating of St. Ansuerus, nowhere expressly express it, and meanwhile enumerate various congregations of those serving God. Adam, often mentioned, signifies that already in his time, after the conversion of the Slavs, promoted by the most pious prince Godescalc, diverse monasteries of holy men were built, in these words, book third, chapter 22: Then also through the several cities were made monasteries of holy men living canonically; likewise of monks and of nuns, as those testify who saw them each at Lübeck, Oldenburg, Leontium, Ratzeburg, and in other cities. But at Magnopolis, which is the city of the Obotrites, three congregations of those serving God are said to have been. The cavil which could be formed from the omitted expression of the Benedictine Order, Mabillon, century VI of the Saints of the Order of St. Benedict, part 2, page 156, thus forestalls: Moreover, there is no reason why anyone should object to us that Ansuerus with his companions is gratuitously numbered in our Order: for this we judge not only because their names are recounted in the Martyrologies both of Arnold Wion and of Hugh Menard, and in the Menology of Bucelin; but also because it is certain that the church of Hamburg, founded and long administered by our people, propagated Benedictine offspring to the neighboring cities and regions which pertained to its care. Nor will anyone easily persuade himself that other monks besides Benedictines flourished at that time in those parts. I plainly acquiesce in Mabillon's argumentation, and judge that the various monasteries recorded by Adam of Bremen were partly of clerics living together, as was anciently wont to be done, partly of Benedictines, who by the writers of those times and places were sufficiently designated by the name of monks, since they knew no other monastic institute in these regions.
[17] There is a greater reason for doubting whether those whom St. Ansuerus had as companions in martyrdom were monks and of the Order of St. Benedict. The profession of life of the companions is also examined, This the more recent writers everywhere affirm, and our Acts and other monuments of uncertain age and authority; but among the old writers of Saxony concerning their profession of life there is deep silence. These and other circumstances I find first expressed in the Chronicle of Bremen, which, written by Heinrich Wolter about the middle of the fifteenth century, Heinrich Meibom gave to print in volume 2 of the Affairs of Germany, where, page 43, the following are had: In those days Godescalc, prince of the Slavs, whom he strove to convert to the faith, was slain and fell. Also the venerable abbot Ansuerus, with 28 brethren, were stoned to death by the Slavs near Ratzeburg on the very day of the Division of the Apostles, whose feast the church of Racepolis celebrates on the very day of Arnulf, on account of other feasts intervening in the same church. And of those martyrs the church thus sings: For the name of Christ these were worthily found here to suffer with their companions, whom, triumphing in the fatherland, the Church now possesses, augmenting heaven by their lots. And those martyrs Adelbert caused to be canonized by a certain suffragan at Ratzeburg, the Apostolic one granting it to him and the sacred council approving. And the canonization being completed, the bishop of Ratzeburg sent the arm of St. Ansuerus the abbot to the monastery of the blessed Virgin Mary outside the walls of Stade. Trithemius, book 3 On Illustrious Men, chapter 299, here counts thirty martyrs, and writes that St. Ansuerus was abbot of the monastery of St. George near Ratzeburg. Krantz in his Metropolis, book 3, chapter 3, and book 4, chapter 43, in diverse phrases intimates that St. Ansuerus was an abbot, and his companions in martyrdom monks. Add to these Cypræus and other more recent writers. But whence they drew these circumstances, neither do they themselves indicate, nor is it easy for us to divine. Perhaps they gather them from the uncertain author of the Slavic Chronicle cited by us above, who, chapter 14, says that Ansuerus the monk on the Ides of July with his companions was stoned at Ratzeburg. I confess that this text of a sufficiently ancient writer favors the assertion of the more recent ones, and that from it it is probably gathered that the companions of St. Ansuerus were monks and consequently Benedictines.
[18] The old writers of Slavic history attribute to St. Ansuerus certain companions of martyrdom, and their number. but do not set forth their determined number. I note meanwhile that by Wion, Dorganius, Menard, and Bucelin thirty monks are constantly computed as companions of St. Ansuerus in the sacred combat. In the Northern Acts and Breviaries there is a certain difference in the number: for in the Breviary of Schleswig XXVIII are recounted; but in that of Ratzeburg first XXIX are said to have lived under the discipline of St. Ansuerus in the monastery; then it is narrated that the persecutors drew blessed Ansuerus with XXVIII of his brethren from the place of habitation to inflict death, and finally that XXVI of this most blessed congregation were stoned. But since the Ratzeburg lessons do not contain the whole history of the martyrdom, they count only XXVI martyrs stoned at the first assault, and omit the two others afterward overwhelmed with stones before Ansuerus. Which is sufficiently clear from the words with which the Office in the same Breviary is thus concluded: O Ansuerus, noble man, with four times seven companions, etc. This defect our Acts supply from the Gottorp Manuscript afterward to be given, which after the XXVI overwhelmed with stones at the first assault, then name John and Volquin, and narrate that they were afterward afflicted with the same kind of death. These two, therefore, added to the XXVI preceding, complete the number of XXVIII martyrs. There are besides in our Acts two spouses, who, stirred up by the miracles, publicly professed themselves Christians, and therefore, also overwhelmed with stones, are said to have obtained the palm of martyrdom. Hence perhaps the Benedictine Martyrologists by error took thirty monks for as many martyrs. However that be, I have hitherto been able to find no more than XXVIII monks as companions of St. Ansuerus. Nor did Cypræus find more, who affirms that this number has been handed down to memory. Now let us say a few things concerning the burial and relics of the holy Martyr.
[19] His burial, translation, Our Acts, number 20, narrate that a certain priest with other Christians recognized the body of St. Ansuerus among the buried bodies of his companions rather prodigiously, and buried it in the stone crypt of the monastery in which he had lived, the bodies of the other martyrs being first laid up near the place of martyrdom, of whose sepulchre or relics afterward no more mention is made either in the Breviaries or in the histories. Then, number 21, it is said that the body of St. Ansuerus was honorably translated into the church of Ratzeburg by Evermod, bishop of Ratzeburg (he died in the year 1178). A little before this translation a certain blind man is reported to have been illuminated by the intercession of the holy Martyr. The same miracle, unless I am mistaken, is repeated in more words in a certain appendix of the Acts, which for causes to be indicated afterward I have omitted. But that the reader may be able to compare that miracle with the one described in the Acts at number 21, and to judge whether it be different from it, I here set before his eyes this one, excerpted from the said appendix. It is related, therefore, in this manner: But it happened that when the day and hour of this translation, as is usual, had been divulged, a certain blind man, desiring for himself the hope of consolation, wished to anticipate the time of the exhumation of the relics of St.
Ansuerus; he came to the cemetery of St. George, with slow step, as the blind are wont, sluggishly advancing; he came near his tomb, struck his foot grievously against the stone of the epitaph of the holy Martyr, and, straitened with pain, lay half-immovable in the place of his stumbling, weeping, and, wailing, prayed the Lord, saying: O Lord Jesus Christ, if all these things are true which are related concerning this Ansuerus, and if in thy sight he is joined to the joys of thy Saints, grant me by his merits to find thy grace, that I may merit to see the light of day, and the holiness of the Martyr be more clearly made known to the world. Straightway his eyes were opened; praising and blessing the Lord Jesus Christ. Then immediately, as was aforesaid, the aforenamed lord bishop was present, and in order duly and honorably completed each thing for the reverence of the holy relics. And this miracle of the blind man shone more manifestly to all who were there present.
[20] and the relics of St. Ansuerus. That the body of St. Ansuerus was still at Ratzeburg at the beginning of the sixteenth century seems able to be gathered from the Breviary of Schleswig, which, printed in the year 1512, thus speaks as of the present: Rejoice, church of Ratzeburg, divinely regarded, chosen from the marrow by the clemency of the Deity, which art beautifully reddened by the blood of the Saints, by whose aid thou art now wondrously governed. But it thus concludes the lessons: At whose sepulchre the blind were illuminated, and the clemency of our Savior works many miracles. But whether at the time in which I write these things the relics of St. Ansuerus still survive, or where they exist, I shall not easily say, since now the Lutheran heresy, an enemy to the cult of the Saints, has occupied the region once watered by the blood of the holy Martyr, and adorned with his sacred bones. That the relics of St. Ansuerus were preserved not in the city of Ratzeburg alone, but were also transmitted elsewhere, is established from the Chronicle of Bremen cited above, and especially from Albert of Stade, who in his Chronicle, after narrating the martyrdom of St. Ansuerus, thus writes: Of this holy Ansuerus the whole arm is preserved at Stade in the church of the blessed Virgin. Albert Krantz, book 4, in the Metropolis, chapter 43, makes mention of the same precious remains; but does not sufficiently clearly indicate whether they remained there to his own age, since at the same time concerning the destroyed church of the most blessed Virgin he writes thus obscurely: Of this holy one (namely Ansuerus, whose glorious combat for the faith he had before narrated) the whole arm is preserved at Stade in the church of blessed Mary now subverted, the manners of the Brethren being first subverted. Hence it is clear that not too much trust is to be given to Cypræus, who, Krantz being cited, thus speaks of the relics of Stade, as if they in the year 1634, in which he was writing, still survived there. More things confidently asserted by this Cypræus in the eulogy of St. Ansuerus exhibited above I could call into doubt. But since he does not bring forward from antiquity testimonies of his assertions, it is scarcely worth the while to impugn this more recent writer.
§ III. The cult, Office, and Acts.
Although from what has been said and is to be said it is sufficiently manifest that St. Ansuerus and his companions were long since venerated as true martyrs, The cult of St. Ansuerus and his companions from the Martyrologies, yet after our manner we shall also enumerate some Martyrologists. The manuscript Additions of the Charterhouse of Brussels to Greven on the Ides of July thus record St. Ansuerus with his companions: At Ratzeburg were stoned by the infidel Wends Asuerus the monk with many others for the faith of Christ. Then Usuard augmented, in Molanus in the Additions, on this day thus has it: Of Answerus the monk with his companions stoned at Ratzeburg. Ferrarius in the General Catalogue on the Ides of July sets forth this announcement: At Ratzeburg in Wandalia, of St. Ansuerus the abbot and martyr with many others. Dorganius in the Benedictine Calendar thus defines the number of companions: Of the SS. Ansuerus the abbot and of the other XXX monks stoned by the Slavs for the love of Christ. Hugh Menard in the Benedictine Martyrology thus adds the number of the arena of the sacred combat: At Ratzeburg, the passion of the holy martyrs Ansuerus and thirty monks, who were stoned by the Slavs for the faith of Christ. Like things have Arnold Wion, part 2 of the Wood of Life, book 3, page 225, and Bucelin in the Benedictine Menology on the XV of July, except that this latter has woven a more prolix eulogy of the holy Martyr. What is to be thought concerning the number of companions determined by these Benedictine Martyrologists, I have said in the preceding paragraph.
[22] and from the Breviary of Schleswig, in which he has a proper Office, We have in our Museum two diverse Offices concerning St. Ansuerus and his companions. One in the Breviary of Ratzeburg, which the most illustrious and most reverend Lord Johann Parkentyn, the twenty-sixth bishop of Ratzeburg, in the year 1506 ordered to be printed at Lübeck, and to each one reciting the canonical hours from that codex granted forty days of indulgence, as is read in the front of the book. But in the Rubrics it is noted that this feast is solemnly celebrated with an Octave. The proper Lessons agree altogether with the second chapter of our Acts even to number 17, so that either this part of the Acts must have been taken from the lessons, or the lessons from this part of the Acts. Wherefore here to exhibit them would be superfluous. Another Office of the same holy Martyr and his companions is found in the Breviary of Schleswig, in whose preface the most illustrious and most reverend Lord Godschalcus De Alevelde, bishop of Schleswig, also bestows on all who pay the hours from it forty days' indulgence. Certain Canons supplying the expenses, others conferring their zeal and labor, that Breviary was printed by the venerable men and masters Wilhelm Mercator and Thomas Kees, citizen, in the city of Paris, opposite the college of the Italians … in the year of the Lord one thousand five hundred and twelve, as is read at the end of the book. But since in this Office the proper lessons differ from those of Ratzeburg, it will not be amiss to exhibit it here entire. For by the same labor we shall have the whole Office of Ratzeburg: for, as I have already said, the proper Ratzeburg lessons are contained word for word in the Acts from number 14 to 17; but the rest of the Schleswig Office, besides the lessons, with the hymns, antiphons, and other proper things, agrees plainly with those of Ratzeburg. Now let us transcribe the very Office from the Breviary of Schleswig.
[23] from which are given certain things for the first Vespers, The Antiphons at First Vespers: 1. Be present to us, Father of glory, that we may worthily be able to utter the praises of the victory of thy martyrs Ansuerus and his companions. 2. From the secret place of the heart every nation makes symphony: for in various torment Ansuerus plays the Stephen. 3. The heavenly garden is then joyfully thronged, when by happy martyrdom this world is watered. 4. Hail, holy Martyrs, company of Ansuerus; pray that recurring death may not touch us, the tearful. 5. Holy Ansuerus, illustrious martyr of God, with thy companions pray for us, we beseech thee. Chapter, from the common of Martyrs. Responsory: Bring forth, O land of Holstein, noble and generous: for from thy progeny came forth a red rose, Ansuerus, who is nobly begotten of thee, through whom ineffably God works many marvels. Verse: From whose fragrance of odor all Slavia abounds. Hymn: By the merits of the Saints. Verse: Be glad. Antiphon at the Magnificat: Holy Ansuerus, innocent from infancy, meek in childhood, sober in adolescence, following the footsteps of his parents, was adorned with such manners of virtues, that even to manly age, in which he had lived perfectly, on account of the summit of his perfection he can be compared to blessed Job. Collect. O God, who didst make blessed Ansuerus and his companions equal in passion to thy most glorious protomartyr Stephen, mercifully grant that by their merits and intercessions we may be freed from perpetual torments, and may come to life eternal. Through, etc.
[24] the lessons of the first, The Invitatory, hymn, and other things at Matins contain nothing peculiar. Here therefore we shall give only the lessons and the other things which are proper. In the first Nocturn. Lesson I. Blessed Ansuerus, born of a noble stock, namely of his father Oswald, a strenuous soldier, and his mother Agnes, was a native of the city of Schleswig: for at that very time, as is gathered from the Hamburg chronicle, Schleswig, a city of the Transalbine Saxons, which is situated on the border of the Danish kingdom, most opulent and most populous, was by a sudden incursion of the pagans utterly cut off. Thou, etc. Responsory: Ansuerus spurned the dross of earthly dignity, that he might usurp the glory of the heavenly city. He forsook his country in the flower of youth, having obtained chastity under the manner of Benedict. Verse: He chose to be abject in the house of his God, rather, etc. Lesson II. This blessed Ansuerus, when he was 15 years old, and was hoped to be the future heir of his father's inheritance, his parents unwilling, longed to be instructed in the studies of letters. Departing therefore from his country and from his parents, he turned his way, the Spirit being a good guide, to the monastery of St. George at Ratzeburg, in which at that time, among the pagan idolaters, lived monks of the Order of St. Benedict. Thou, etc. Responsory: As the rose or the lily throngs the garden, so in equal form through the son of Oswald the monastery is supported under the rule of Benedict. Verse: As new plantations, etc. Lesson III. But, the flatteries of the world being considered, which afford no durable support, and despising the other things of secular fortune, he came to the aforesaid monastery, and with fervent desire asked to be received into religion. And so, God willing it, who does and disposes all things which he wills, he easily obtained his request. Thou, etc. Responsory: Come, Rachel, spouse of Christ, the militant Church, who hast brought forth as many offspring as thou hast translated souls to the joys of heaven through kinds of torments, whose deaths thou didst weep through holy desires. Verse: Thy sons like the young plants of olives, etc.
[25] In the second Nocturn. Lesson IV. But in the same monastery, clothed with the religious habit, and of the second Nocturn; he profited above his coevals who were with him in the schools, both in the studies of letters and in the exercises of virtues. Promoted finally to the priesthood, contemplative with wondrous devotion, insisting on tearful prayers, he assiduously offered his heart and body to God in sacrifice. And amid the solemnities of Masses he merited to be consoled by frequent divine revelation. Thou, etc. Responsory: When Ansuerus is elected as father, the discreet man is not on this account lifted up in heart, but meek, remained unwearied in the work of piety. What he taught chiefly he set about above others. Verse: This one shall receive a blessing from the Lord, etc. Lesson V. At length, the abbot of the said monastery being dead, by the concordant election of the Brethren the holy Ansuerus, made abbot, obtained the name and the reality of a good pastor: for he ruled the flock committed to him by word and example. The offending brethren he so corrected, that neither, too rigid, did he subvert them, nor, remiss beyond measure, cherish them in error. Thou, etc. Responsory: O most sacred lovers of the Deific Trinity; Abraham at the root of the mountain saw three men and adored one. So Ansuerus from one mouth sent forth three melodies together and at once. Verse: Abraham saw three men, etc. Lesson VI. When therefore the holy father Ansuerus with his XXVIII brethren confidently preached the word of God through Slavia, and converted very many to the faith, the indignant
magnates stoned them on a mountain not remote from the monastery. Holy Ansuerus, when he came to his passion, besought his persecutors that first his companions, whom he feared might fail, should be stoned. Whom being crowned, he himself, rejoicing, with blessed Stephen set his knees, and, invoking his patronage, stoned, rendered his soul to his creator; at whose sepulchre the blind were illuminated, and the clemency of our Savior works many miracles. Thou, etc. Responsory: As a city on the mountains cannot be hidden, so neither can holiness be concealed in the Saints. This is sufficiently laid open in holy Ansuerus, to whom from heaven a rod is sent not secretly, and is very fittingly turned into a taper. Verse: This was done by the Lord, etc.
[26] likewise proper things from the third Nocturn, Lauds, and second Vespers. In the third Nocturn all things are said from the common except these Responsories which follow. Responsory: O most valiant captains of the militant Church, O most learned adorners of the triumphant soldiery, holy Ansuerus with thy companions, defend by your prayers these whom you know to remain humbly in your service. Verse: With Christ may we ever be aided by your patronage. Whom, etc. Responsory: From earthly sojourners they become heavenly citizens, while by wolfish men angelic men are slain, through whom the Slavs are taught the doctrines of the honeyed dew, and snatched from the privies of the Eumenic prison. Verse: Avenge, O Lord, the blood, etc. Responsory: Come, ye triumphers, intercede for us, and correct in us the manners of perverseness; that us aided by your prayer and washed from this dregs, God the creator of all may lead into the empyrean. Verse: With Christ promote our vows by your prayers. That, etc. In Lauds also nothing peculiar occurs except the following hymn and the Antiphon at the Benedictus.
Glorious King of martyrs, rewarder of all, who through martyrdom leadest the Saints into the empyrean. There blushes red in Slavonia a flower which the divine grace drew forth from Holstein, which the unbelieving nation crushed. This one in childhood subdued all vices, under the rule of Benedict lived in chastity; Which the emulator of chastity, the devil, experiencing, raised against this Saint many tumults with his goads. He is elected abbot, because the just man struggles against it; but, overcome by the prayer of the people, he took up the yoke of the Lord. To the Trinity be glory, by whose benefits Ansuerus with these companions shines with such great miracles.
This hymn is lacking in the Breviary of Ratzeburg; but in both the following Antiphon at the Benedictus is read: Rejoice, church of Ratzeburg, divinely regarded, chosen from the marrow by the clemency of the Deity, which art beautifully reddened by the blood of the Saints, by whose aid thou art now wondrously governed. In second Vespers all things are recited as in the First, except the Antiphon at the Magnificat, which thus has it: The heavenly citizens marvel and the spirits of Tartarus are amazed that this fragile nature is so agile, that with so great glory in the victory of passion it passes to the joys of heaven. O Ansuerus, noble man, with four times seven companions, be willing to pour forth prayers for us and to intercede, since with yearly devotions we recall thy feasts. Thus far the Schleswig Office, which, collated with that of Ratzeburg, I have here and there corrected, and a few things enclosed in brackets [ ] I have supplied from the same Ratzeburg one. Now let us prenote a few things concerning the fuller Acts to be immediately here subjoined.
[27] We possess three manuscript copies of the Acts. The first is copied from the manuscript parchment Passional of the monastery of Böddeken in the diocese of Paderborn, Concerning the manuscript Acts in the Böddeken codex which Father Johann Gamans, priest of our Society, and the never sufficiently to be praised promoter of our Work, in the year 1641 transmitted to our Elders. In this copy all things agree as to substance with the two other Manuscripts presently to be mentioned, except that to this Böddeken copy alone is prefixed a certain inept proem. But lest I seem to have rashly assailed it with this epithet, read it and judge. It thus has it: Ansuerus is so called from "ana" (understand the Greek adverb ἄνω) which is "upward," and "sequens" (following) and "verus" (true), as it were "following the true upward"; or Ansuerus is said as "following the higher truth" and that truth of which John says: I am the way, the truth, and the life. This way holy Ansuerus followed in childhood; the truth in holy Religion; the life after his death, now in eternal glory. John is interpreted "grace," or "in whom is grace," who by the gratuitous grace and good fame of this life merited with the protomartyr a precious death. Volquin is interpreted "willing" and "quinus," as it were "having a will toward five," namely the five wounds of Christ, or toward the fivefold denarius, of which Augustine in the book on the City of God, where he thus says, that with this fivefold denarius thou buyest or purchasest for thyself, namely by poverty the kingdom, by grief joy, by labor rest, by ignominy glory, by death life, which these three Saints together with their companions faithfully and constantly obtained. Concerning this contorted interpretation of names perhaps more than enough.
[28] We have besides two manuscript copies of the same Acts taken from the Gottorp manuscript codex, and in the Gottorp one, of which one is like the other, as egg to egg. With these also agrees the aforesaid Böddeken Manuscript, except certain variations which I shall note in the margin and, where there is need, enclose in the context in brackets [ ]. Mabillon seems to have had none of these Manuscripts, nay, not even the printed Breviaries, since, writing of these Martyrs, he makes mention of no Acts. We shall give them from the twofold Gottorp Manuscript, which, as I have already said, has been collated with the Böddeken Manuscript. Yet I have cut off a certain appendix placed after the Acts in all the copies, and full of gloomy tautologies and confused digressions: for in it is related an apparition of the chief Martyrs of that society, who narrate to a certain devout woman the circumstances of their passion and burial, already before explained in the Acts, in almost the same words, and demand that the manifestation of their bodies be made by her. But all things are there so obscurely and confusedly repeated that the author of this appendix (whether he be the same who composed the Acts, I know not) seems to have written it while dreaming.
[29] But now what is to be judged concerning the rest of the Acts, and concerning their unknown author a judgment is given. I myself scarcely know. First, by whom and at what time they were written, I cannot attain even by conjecture. That their writer at least lived long after the martyrdom of St. Ansuerus and his companions is established from this, that in the Acts he produces an opinion of St. Bernard. Then he seems to have been little skilled in history and chronology: for he calls Evermod the first bishop of Ratzeburg, whereas nevertheless Adam of Bremen, book 3 of the Ecclesiastical History, chapter 23, testifies that already in his time a certain Aristo, coming from Jerusalem, was given by Adalbert the archbishop as prelate to the church of Ratzeburg. But, since the see of Ratzeburg after this Aristo long lay vacant on account of tumults, perhaps he understood Evermod to be the first from the restoration of the chair. Be it so; for me it is permitted. But I cannot so easily pardon the gross chronological error which he commits in fixing the epoch of Ansuerus's death, from these words, number 13, near the end: After these things the said abbot Ansuerus with XXVIII monks, about the year of the Lord one thousand one hundred or more, were stoned by the pagans on a mountain not remote from the monastery. From what was said in the first paragraph it is clear that the writer of the Acts errs more than thirty years from the true epoch of the martyrdom, which also is an indication that he was not near those times. It displeases me, as elsewhere on a like occasion has been indicated in our Acts, the author's narration concerning St. Ansuerus praying before his death, thus set down at number 19: Who, pouring forth suppliant prayers to the Lord, prayed that immediately after the reduction to ashes, for the corroboration of his faith, the relics might be found, and that whosoever in their necessities should invoke the patronage of those Martyrs might, by the mercy of God and their merits, obtain the grace of being heard. There are also certain other things, which, whether they are to be admitted without a known and fit witness, I leave to the judgment of the discerning reader. Now receive the
ACTS BY AN ANONYMOUS AUTHOR
From two Gottorp Manuscripts collated with the Böddeken Manuscript.
Ansuerus, martyr, at Ratzeburg in Lower Saxony (S.)
His Companions, at Ratzeburg in Lower Saxony. BHL Number: 0557
FROM MANUSCRIPTS.
CHAPTER I.
The birth, adolescence, monastic life, and virtues of St. Ansuerus.
Ansuerus, born of noble parents, drew a festive genealogy; St. Ansuerus, born of a noble stock, as being of a noble father, the strenuous soldier Oswald, and a mother by name Agnes, who were of the best disposition, of praiseworthy repute and good fame, and led a most honorable life. The same Oswald, dwelling between Heidebo a, a city of Jutland b, which is now called Schleswig, and Holstein c, was endowed with so great excellence that he enfeoffed d very many soldiers and military squires with his possessions after the manner of vassals. But his mother was of so holy a manner of life, that she adorned many with good examples, modest and seemly manners, which afterward pertained [] most excellently to the aforesaid son. Since offspring are wont sometimes to imitate the footsteps of their progenitors and parents, according to that: Often a son is wont to be like his father. And: A wise son is the gladness of his mother. Which holy Ansuerus [was], who, innocent in infancy, and meek in childhood, and sober in adolescence, lived even to manly age as it were perfect []. Who, according to this summit of steps, could be compared to holy Job [*]; of whom it is written: A man simple and upright, and fearing God, and departing from evil; and in successive times, having imitated adorned manners, as has already been said, and will be better said below.
[2] But holy Ansuerus had an elder own brother, he forsakes his parents, who, forsaking the dwelling of his parents, set out on a distant road to acquire transitory goods, and that he might please the world; nor did his parents wish at all to have him as heir or survivor, because he did not at all return to them [*]. But the younger Ansuerus, since he was then of three lustres, that is fifteen years, taught by the salutary counsel of the almighty and merciful God, although most tenderly beloved by his parents, so that they hoped for an heir of their possessions and a successor of his father's soldiery, those same parents being unwilling, longed to be instructed in the studies of letters, and, feigning himself willing to visit a certain uncle of his by reason of kinship, turned his way, the good Spirit leading, to the monastery of St. George the martyr at Racipolis, in which at that time, among the pagan infidels, lived monks of the Order of St. Benedict.
[3] It came about e on the journey that, his will being mentally disposed, and turns aside to the monastery of St. George, while he rested on his couch, he saw a dream, that in that same place to which he was tending, he should sometime solicitously govern the care of the first rule, and serve God there, whom to serve is to reign, even to the consummation of his life. Awaking, he turned and returned within himself the interpretation of this dream, and, handling it with a mind exceedingly cheerful, setting aside his youthful
wantonness of adolescence, which nevertheless was not in him, forsaking all concupiscence of worldly life, he fervently conceived the purpose of a holy and religious life, whereby he might merit effectively [] to attain everlasting life. But, the flatteries of the world being considered, which prepare [] no durable support, contemning and altogether despising the die of secular fortune, he came to the aforesaid monastery of St. George, and with fervent mind and desire, with words mellifluously sweet inspired to him from heaven, knocking at the mind of the abbot, asked to be received into religion, and, God willing it, who does and disposes and inspires all good things whatsoever he wills, he easily obtained it.
[4] But in the same monastery, clothed with the monastic habit, in which, having professed the monastic life, exulting, with joy he was busy to be imbued not only with letters and the studies of letters, but also how he might please him who gives divine and human knowledge abundantly to all who piously ask it; as James says in his canonical epistle: But if any of you want, etc. He profited above his coevals who were with him in the schools, and, commended by the abbot to a certain elder, who should form and instruct him in the monastic life which he had professed, how he might flee the dissolutions and insolences of things to be done, and conform himself to the wills of his brethren, going before his elders in honor, and obeying conformably those who were his equals and peers; fulfilling all these things so assiduously, so humbly, and so meekly, that all the monks could not fully wonder at him. And meanwhile he humbled himself so much that afterward his companions, led by a spirit [*] of pride, held him for a rude and stupid fool.
[5] But he, giving thanks to God, pursued his rivals with a lovable countenance and with charitable favor the more fervently. he exercises patience, For he was of so great good modesty and virtuous bashfulness, that if accused of anything, which nevertheless he never remembered having perpetrated, a blush of the face professing the affection of his heart betokened it. As blessed Bernard says in his book on loving the Lord: Bashfulness, since it is a virtue which befits all ages, times, and persons, yet especially becomes innocent minds [*]. For in the fear of the Lord he held himself so timidly, and bore himself in like manner so humble under the discipline of his rector, that his same teacher suspected him for a madman and out of his mind, that he bore himself so patiently. When also, released from the schools and advanced to the priesthood, he endured, so that he could well be compared to a brave man; as it is written: Better is a patient man than a brave man, [and] he who rules his spirit than a stormer of cities.
[6] and exercises other virtues; He was also more frequently contemplative [*] with inward devotion, and, that he might the better be able to insist on prayer devoutly, he had chosen for himself a place outside the monastery not remote, in which he sacrificed his heart and body with tearful entreaties, when he could have time. Whence it often happened that he did not catch the hour of refection, both at dinner and at supper. For which the brethren, sometimes troublesome to him, cast up his absence to his elder. Whence the elder, provoked, held him suspect in his several deeds, and commanded that several examinations be made against him through go-betweens, that whatever his deeds might be examined. But God, the consoler of all who hope in him, does not permit his devout ones to be confounded, as it is read: For who hath hoped in the Lord and been forsaken?
[7] which from heaven Among other examiners a certain scholar, by name Oswald, whom Ansuerus greatly loved on account of the equivocation of his first [] name, saw, amid the solemnities of Masses, the divine grace granting it, St. John [] the hermit standing by St. Ansuerus while he offered the sacraments of the Lord's Body, and lifting up with him the holy Eucharist in sign of victory, that St. Ansuerus should be the victor of all his persecutions, which [*], as was aforesaid, he must overcome. As it is read of Moses, that whenever, his hands being raised to the Lord, he prayed for the Israelite people, he obtained victory from the Lord. The aforesaid scholar, God permitting, saw another vision; the Lord namely in the form of a most delicate boy touching with his hands the crown of the head of St. Ansuerus, when, after Mass, before the altar, as is customary, he lay prostrate rendering thanks for the office completed; and it was often seen by his fellow-brethren, to whom this was granted, that an angel of God in his habit was walking about with him, in sign of angelic governance, as the psalm says: To his angels, etc.
[8] are manifested to the incredulous brethren. And when these things were revealed to his elder teacher, he disdained to give credence, and he was accused before the abbot and the chapter, blamed for his unwonted manners. On another occasion also, the abbot being absent, certain ones brought forward vain and empty things, and inflicted on him a sharp penance. But some of them did not judge him, but asserted him innocent and free from the offense. And certain others, persisting in their obstinacy, were so astonished by a stroke of thunder that they scarcely escaped, and those who before had removed him from the priestly office, asked him to resume it if he would. Amid these vexations and tribulations he did not cease to venerate, with many sighs and tearful sobs, the Lord, and the most sacred virgin Mary, whom he daily venerated with special prayers. Whence it happened that the holy Mother of God (she stood out in relief on a vault over a certain altar of the said monastery of St. George) appeared to him crowned with the splendors of many gems; who, as it seemed to him, inseparably imprinted a certain most beautiful gem of that crown upon his head.
[9] He was moreover a most true lover of the holy and undivided Trinity, His piety is proved by a miracle, which is notably proved from this, that a certain fellow-brother of his, being laid up in sickness, had a scholar of his religion ministering to him; who, for the sake of devotion, opportunity being afforded him, entered the monastery, and, since like things more frequently rejoice together with like, with exulting mind saw St. Ansuerus most devoutly insisting on contemplation, and, his head cast down, walking as in imagination, whereby that same minister was greatly amended and led by a good spirit, he heard him vocally and sweetly chanting a most sweet melody with a threefold voice, and, exceedingly astonished, desiring quickly to approach, that he might behold the three whom he heard. When his sense failed in it, being made more certain, namely, because he saw only one, and heard three.
[10] Whence it is gathered that he was a most faithful imitator of the chief doctor Augustine, toward the most holy Trinity. who in the Trinity preached three persons and one essence, which is known to God alone and to the assumed man, as it is written by the same: The Trinity is known to itself alone. Holy Abraham, as is read in Genesis, saw three and adored one. This minister saw one, heard three. And [so] each is a professor of the holy Trinity, namely the Patriarch of the Trinity in unity, and the minister of unity in Trinity. And concerning this threefold song of the person of St. Ansuerus alone, fittingly weigh that, as the dawn of day in sweet harmony is gladdening to the ears, so the sweet-sounding voice of St. Ansuerus, heard threefold, was to his fellow-brethren and to all the faithful of Christ prophetic of the faith of the holy Trinity, as it is written: My just man liveth by faith. And elsewhere in the word of the Wise Man: The remembrance of the just is a composition of perfume, and sweet as honey and as music in a banquet of wine.
[11] At length, the abbot of the said monastery being dead, the brethren assembled for the election of a new father, He becomes abbot of the monastery, and in the name of God all unanimously agreed on Ansuerus, and the vision was fulfilled which he had seen on the way of his entrance. And this is the change of the right hand of the Most High, by which all things, both in life and in death, were changed for him into praiseworthy good. But when he had obtained the reality and the name of a good pastor, he ruled the flock committed to him by word and example, namely by virtues and holy works, by faith, and hope, and charity. For in faith he imitated holy Abraham, in hope holy Simeon, in charity our Lord Jesus Christ himself, who spared sinners, patiently bearing them, and awaiting their penance.
[12] in which office his severity, tempered by gentleness, Whence it happened that St. Ansuerus the abbot had to correct a certain monk enormously offending, for his offense, justice requiring it. But he, attending that justice is a virtue which rewards the well-deserving and punishes the bad, recompensing punishment or reward according to the quantity of merit, thereupon fearing severity, lest, too rigid, he should exalt himself against the offender, or lest, too lenient, he should seem to cherish the erring one; what did he do? He prayed with much intercession to the Lord, that he would deign to inspire him how he should correct the wanderer, lest he should seem to exceed the measure and limit of correction. Straightway the abbot Ansuerus felt himself, in sign of correction and discipline, to carry in his hand, tangibly, a rod brought from on high.
[13] is divinely approved. But he who had offended against the Abbot both trampled [] on his rigor, as though little caring to amend his excess to the Lord God, as was fitting. Yet, called to the chapter g before the brethren, his demerit was notoriously laid open to all. Who, hearing his excesses and seeing the rod of the Lord's virtue in the hand of his superior, was so terrified that presently, as in the twinkling of an eye, he conceived so great contrition, and bore so immense confusion [], and for eight days brought forth a worthy satisfaction, and on the ninth day rested with the best end in the peace of God. Which being learned, the abbot Ansuerus, directing his prayer to the Lord with a clean heart, repeated what it might please the Lord to be observed concerning the rod miraculously ministered to him. Which straightway was turned into a candle, clothed with wax and wick, and in the said monastery, even to the overthrow of the cloister, was, as is said, preserved. After these things the said abbot Ansuerus with XXVIII monks, about the year of the Lord one thousand one hundred or more h, were stoned by the pagans on a mountain not remote from the monastery, on the day of the Division of the Apostles, imitating in faith and constancy holy Stephen the protomartyr, whose passion is read to have been accomplished in this manner.
ANNOTATIONS.
Baltic and the duchy of Lauenburg, on the south by the duchies of Bremen and Lüneburg, from which it is separated by the river Elbe.
* elsewhere, it was open.
* elsewhere, in which he lived perfectly.
* elsewhere, rightly.
* elsewhere, they were able.
* elsewhere, effectively.
* elsewhere, they afford.
* elsewhere, led by a spirit.
* elsewhere, youthful persons.
* elsewhere, contemplative.
* elsewhere, of his father.
* elsewhere, the evangelist.
* supply "he endured."
* elsewhere, he passed over.
* elsewhere, worn down.
* elsewhere, brought forth a confession.
CHAPTER II.
The martyrdom, burial, translation, and a miracle.
When through many courses the Church of God had shone, Slavia remained in the darkness of infidelity. St. Ansuerus, preaching the Christian faith, To convert which, when various preachers were sent, on account of the unconvertible hardness of that nation the seed of the word of God, as though falling upon a dry rock, sprouted in very few. Certain religious men, therefore, betook themselves to a certain place of Slavia, which is now called Ratzeburg, and, a monastery being built there and leading a most holy life, among the infidels, like the morning stars amid the dark idolaters, they gleamed; and to those willing to hear [] the word of God they preached with confidence. And so the number of these holy brethren had grown to XXIX persons, who had a certain priest [], comely in life and manners, under whose obedience they were ruled, Ansuerus by name. These, therefore, strengthened in mind by the spirit of fortitude and wisdom, as champions of God, confidently sowing the word of God in Slavia in the minds of the impious, with their sincere and pious exhortations converted very many.
[15] Many of the more powerful of that land, indignant at this matter, he is seized with his companions, of whom 26 are stoned. who, resisting the Holy Spirit with atrocious mind, preferred the vanity and delights of this life to the joys to come, decreed to subvert the aforesaid congregation, lest the number of the converted in those parts should be augmented. The aforesaid impious men, therefore, raging with atrocious ferocity against the sheep of Christ, came together, and, like fierce lions full of madness, drag blessed Ansuerus with his XXVIII fellow-brethren from the place of their habitation to be slain. Fearing therefore, the pious father [] Ansuerus, lest any of the congregation entrusted to him, at the sight of the slaying of his own [], should put on a pusillanimous spirit, besought the persecutors that they would deign to spare him until after the slaughter of the others. Who, hoping perhaps that he himself wished to deny the Christian faith, by the divine nod heard him. But blessed Ansuerus sets forth to his fellow-soldiers about to be slain the passion of the Only-begotten Son of God and the torments and deaths of the other holy martyrs, and makes them, already fervent for the passion, most fervent for their Creator. What more? The persecutors with stony hearts run without any compassion to the stones, and first, as by one whirlwind, they miserably slew XXVI persons of this most holy congregation with stones.
[16] The glory of these Martyrs being beheld, When therefore these most holy Martyrs were placed in torments, God, willing to show that he is not lacking to those who invoke him in tribulation, sent from heaven a brightness of ineffable splendor, in which the shining hosts of the holy angels were seen diverse by the other Christians standing around. Which angels indeed led the souls of the holy Martyrs with heavenly melody and dancing to the joys of heaven. How great joys, therefore, how great jubilation there, where the spiritual light, which had infused itself into the pious minds of the martyrs to prepare their souls for their passion, offered itself also corporally to the bodily eyes of those beholding and compassionating, to corroborate their faith! Wherefore many of the bystanders, incited by this most clear vision, that they might without delay receive eternal joys, publicly confessed themselves to be Christians and to hold the faith of those who were being stoned, and for this confession, stoned in the same hour, delivered their spirit to the Lord.
[17] besides others, a wife with her husband undergoes martyrdom. There was present there, by God's preordination, a certain man with his wife, and when together they saw so great a number of souls led by angelic ministry to the glory of heaven, the woman addresses her husband, saying: Dost thou not behold the brightness shining around and the angels leading the souls of the Saints into heaven with great glory? With the company of these let us assuredly remain, nor is it expedient to be separated from them. Let us therefore confess that we believe Christ the Son of God and are Christians. He answered, as one pusillanimous, to be corroborated by the strong woman whom by the gift of God he had found for his salvation: We have very many little ones at home; to whose custody do we commit them? To this she: Their heavenly Father, the helper of orphans, who created them, for whose glory we shall undergo death, will provide for them as a most faithful guardian. Both, with glad mind, offering themselves with the others as a sacrifice to the Lord, were stoned.
[18] Then two other monks are overwhelmed with stones, There still remained, together with the most blessed Ansuerus, two men of his congregation, illustrious for virtues and constancy; of whom one was named John, the other Volquin c, who, since they had by no means decreed to deny Christ after the slaughter of so many Martyrs, there came a certain one more frenzied than the other slayers, and with a great stone wounds the right part of John's head in the temple. But he, inflamed with too great ardor from the remembered passion of Christ, sent back the stone to be stoned to him who stoned. Which that same man who had cast it at him, receiving, with a second blow so shakes [] the top of John's head that the brain was seen, the wound being opened. Before all [] the Martyr, not terrified, again threw back the stone at the stoner. Who, when for the third time he felt his blow, expired. Thence the glorious martyr Volquin is brought forth, and with the same stone, until he rendered his soul to God, was stoned.
[19] Last of all the most blessed father Ansuerus is assailed. after whom St. Ansuerus suffers the same punishment. Who, when he had given thanks to almighty God that of the flock entrusted to him none, as pusillanimous, had failed, jubilant in the praise of God, is stoned with the same stone. Who, pouring forth suppliant prayers to the Lord, prayed that immediately after the reduction to ashes, for the corroboration of his faith, the relics might be found. And that whosoever in their necessities should invoke the patronage of those Martyrs might, by the mercy of God and their merits, obtain the grace [*] of being heard d. Which prayer being completed and heard by the Lord, he invoked the patronage of blessed Stephen, who joyfully received stones, and, stoned, with his glorious trophy rendered his soul to his Creator.
[20] When therefore the bodies of the Saints lay unburied, The body of St. Ansuerus, prodigiously recognized among the others, is buried, a certain devout priest coming up with several Christians, and beholding with devout tears the bodies of the Saints, prayed the Lord that of his mercy he would deign to show which among the slain had been the more principal and captain of the others, that to that body a more solemn burial and greater reverence might be paid. There came, therefore, into the mind of the said priest, by the divine nod, that the bodies of all the slain should be immersed in the water which was near the place of the slaying, and that which should float above should be the most excellent body of the martyr. Which being done, the other bodies seeking the sandy bottom of the water, which could be swum [], the body of blessed Ansuerus floated up, as though fattened with the fat and richness of God. But they still doubting a little, they prayed again [] that, if there had been clear truth in that miracle, the floating body should singularly seek the bottom, and the other bodies should bubble up from the bottom. Which also likewise was done. They gathered, therefore, all the bodies, and near the place where they had been stoned delivered them to burial with much reverence. But the body of blessed Ansuerus, which by the singular miracles they had found more excellent, they laid up in a certain stone crypt of the monastery which he himself had inhabited.
[21] But on a certain occasion, when a certain blind man for the sake of prayer had entered the said crypt, before whose translation a blind man is illuminated. touching the sepulchre of the blessed martyr, he fell upon it with hands spread out, and, prone, adoring on the ground, by the merits of the blessed Martyr received sight. Not able, therefore, for joy, to conceal the grace conferred on him, he related it to the venerable father lord Evermod, the first e bishop of Ratzeburg, who, with wondrous devotion, hosts as well of nobles as of very many clerics and laymen being associated to him, dug up the body of the said Martyr, and gloriously translated it into the church of Ratzeburg. By the intercessions, therefore, of these Martyrs he himself wrought many things in Christ, who with God the Father and the Holy Spirit lives and reigns God for ever.
ANNOTATIONS.
* elsewhere, unwilling.
* elsewhere, father.
* elsewhere, father.
* elsewhere, of the others.
* elsewhere, crushed.
* elsewhere, precious.
* elsewhere, the grace of joy.
* elsewhere, to be bound over.
* elsewhere, first.